My trip to Centralia, PA (town Silent Hill movie was based on)

Silent Hill was on SyFy today, and it reminded me that the film was based on a real town, Centralia, PA. Supposedly one small trash fire lit a coal vent below the town, making the entire town evacuate.

There are a few people who still live in the town, but it’s likely at a single digit number at this point. My friends and I drove from Western Massachusetts all the way to Centralia just to see the town that gave inspiration to one of our favorite movies/video games. Unfortunately, there’s not much to see. The closed off piece of highway is interesting enough, and only small amount of the fumes are present, nowhere near as eerie as the fog in Silent Hill.

Nonetheless, the desolate town is something to admire. We walked around the small town – or what’s left of it – for about 4 hours, but we came up pretty short on findings. There are large pipes sticking out of the ground to give relief to the fires burning underground, with small vents that spew out some smoke. Most streets in the town are dead ends, and it looks to be quite the spot for midnight parties. It’s also a dumping ground, with trash virtually everywhere, which adds a lot to the creep-factor.

There was a building that looked well maintained, and as we passed it, we saw a door close. We were really aching to find more sights of the ruined town, and got out of the car and knocked on the door. No one replied, but we almost took that as a dare to get in somehow. That didn’t happen however, and I was half-expecting the door’s lock to be broken. Somehow.

There are only two towns close to the nearly abandoned town, one is Aristes, and one named Ashland. Appropriate, no? While it’s not the same, it’s hard not to think of Silent Hill 4, as Henry lived in South Ashfield.

The picture above is obviously the best of the bunch, (I nearly shit my pants when I saw this) but the other pictures are interesting enough. Enjoy!